The winners of the European Energy Data Access Pilots 2020 have been selected!

In the beginning of April 2020, a group of leading European grid operators announced a Europe-wide competition to select pilots of innovative energy products and services that need access to metering data. The applicants were expected to submit proposals for a novel energy service, product or business model (either as a working solution or an idea) that utilise cross-border metering data from at least two countries, and to be implemented in 2020.

The purpose of these pilot projects is to demonstrate the value of data access across Europe and to show the innovation that can happen thanks to consent-based access to private metering data from both private consumers and enterprises, both within countries as well as internationally. Renaldas Radvila, ESO Member of the Management Board, says that real business cases demonstrate the need for grid operators to open up data. “Besides the formal criteria, we also paid attention that the pilots selected were diverse enough and that we would also be able to support them,” he adds.

In turn, successful applicants will be granted access to the ‘Sandbox’ environment of Estfeed’s data exchange platform, where mock metering data from different countries is provided in cooperation with other European grid operators.

Altogether, 22 applications were received during the competition. The winners are Siemens, FlexiDAO, WePower, re.alto energy, Critical Software, Elertis, DEXMA, Sunly, Greenbird and R8 Technologies. “We are happy to announce the winners that were selected by an international committee of seven representatives of European grid operators and will be carried out during 2020,” said Kaija Valdmaa, Estfeed Product Owner. “The 10 selected projects stood out by being orientated to market integration, increasing competition with new products and services and empowered the consumer in the energy market. They are also solving important market barriers and can be successfully implemented in 3-6 months,” Valdmaa explained. “We appreciate all who participated in the European Energy Data Access Pilots 2020 competition, congratulations to the winners!”

See the overview of the pilots here.

"We are delighted to have been chosen to take part in Elering's Energy Data Access pilot,” comments Sam Warburton, the CEO of re.alto energy. “We all share a common goal of harmonising energy data access across Europe, unlocking innovation and driving growth towards a smarter, low-carbon system. We're very excited to be a part of this initiative!”

Simone Accornero, the CEO of FlexiDAO, also states that, as a renewable energy traceability software provider, easy and scalable access to TSO-certified metering data has been a great challenge across Europe. “Thanks to the Estfeed platform, we hope to be able to accelerate the commercial roll-out of our solution for the hourly accounting of renewable energy and CO2 emissions, helping consumers claim, prove and communicate real environmental impact.”

The implementation of pilots will begin in the second part of May. “We have contacted the successful applicants. Given COVID-19, we will kick off virtually through web meetings at the end of May. During these meeting, the main agenda of the pilot projects, as well as the ideas and action plans of each of the pilots, technical integration process and work procedures will be introduced,” assured Valdmaa. Information about upcoming events, actions and the results of the pilots can be found here.

Together with other European grid operators, Elering is looking to establish a European Energy Data Bridge Alliance, with the aim of lowering data access barriers and harmonising energy data access throughout Europe.

Additional information:

Kaija Valdmaa
Product Owner of Estfeed
+372 5344 8048
kaija.valdmaa@elering.ee